Hasht Behesht pavilion, Isfahan: detail of the decoration from the entrance arch to the lantern

SOURCE: Pascal-Xavier Coste. Monuments modernes de la Perse (Paris, 1867), plate XXXIX-XL NOTES: Coste (an architect and artist) and painter Eugene Flaudin were part of a diplomatic mission to Persia (now Iran) in 1839. They remained for two years recording the monuments and architecture of the country. In 1844 the book ÔÇÿMonument historiques de la PerseÔÇÖ was published, comprising their drawings of works from earliest times to the end of the Sassanid dynasty in the 7th century. Coste prepared an album of their work from that journey which covered the period from the beginnings of Islam in Persia to the reign of Fath-Ali Shah at the end of the 18th century. The work published in 1867, ÔÇÿMonuments modernes de la PerseÔÇÖ, is the published result of that album.